Nasim Hafezi; Abolghasem Ajami; Touraj Farazmandfar; Vahid Hosseini; Reza Alizadeh-Navaei; Mohsen Tehrani
Volume 12, Issue 2 , June 2015, , Pages 129-140
Abstract
Background: CD1d presents glycolipid antigens to invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. The role of CD1d in the development of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer has not been revealed, yet. Objective: To clarify the expression of alternatively spliced variants of CD1d in peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. ...
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Background: CD1d presents glycolipid antigens to invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. The role of CD1d in the development of peptic ulcer and gastric cancer has not been revealed, yet. Objective: To clarify the expression of alternatively spliced variants of CD1d in peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Methods: Patients with dyspepsia were selected and divided into three groups of non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD), peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and gastric cancer (GC), according to their endoscopic and histopathological examinations. H. pylori infection was diagnosed by rapid urease test and histopathology. The expression levels of V2, V4, and V5 spliced variants of CD1d molecule were determined by quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR. Results: Relative gene expression levels of V4 were higher in GC patients (n=37) than those in NUD (n=49) and PUD (n=51) groups (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Moreover, GC patients showed higher expression levels of V5 compared to NUD and PUD groups (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Positive correlation coefficients were attained between V4 and V5 expression in patients with PUD (r=0.734, p<0.0001) and GC (r=0.423, p<0.01), but not in patients with NUD. Among NUD patients, the expression levels of V4, but not V5, were higher in H. pylori-positive patients than in H. pylorinegative ones (p<0.01). Conclusion: Collectively, both membrane-bound (V4) and soluble (V5) isoforms of CD1d were over-expressed in gastric tumor tissues, suggesting that they are involved in anti-tumor immune responses.
Abolghasem Ajami; Farshideh Abedian; Seyyed Hamzeh Hosseini; Elahe Akbarian; Reza Alizadeh-Navaei; Mehrdad Taghipour
Volume 11, Issue 3 , September 2014, , Pages 200-209
Abstract
Background: Schizophrenia is a disorder of the executive function of both sensory and central nervous system. Recent studies suggest that immune mechanisms play a role in the pathophysiology of this disease. The variations in cytokine concentrations have been associated with psychopathology and treatment ...
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Background: Schizophrenia is a disorder of the executive function of both sensory and central nervous system. Recent studies suggest that immune mechanisms play a role in the pathophysiology of this disease. The variations in cytokine concentrations have been associated with psychopathology and treatment of schizophrenia. Objective: To investigate the changes in serum concentrations of TNF- α, IL-10, and IL-2 in schizophrenic patients before and 40 days after treatment. Methods: In a case-control study, 26 schizophrenic patients and 26 healthy individuals were enrolled as the control group. PANSS scale questionnaire was used for diagnosis and assessing the severity of the disease. All patients were then treated with risperidone or clozapine for 40 days. Serum concentrations of TNF- α, IL-10 and IL-2 were measured by ELISA before and after treatment in both groups. Paired t-test and Independent t-test were used for comparison of data. Results: Comparison of TNF-α and IL-10 concentrations in patients before and after treatment revealed a significance decrease of TNF- α and increase of IL-10 concentrations (p=0.002, and p=0.008, respectively). Serum concentrations of IL-2 were lower than the detection limit of assay and were not detectable. In comparison with healthy controls, serum concentrations of TNF- α in schizophrenic patients were higher, while IL-10 concentrations were lower before treatment although the differences were not significant (p=0.291 and p=0.375, respectively). There was no correlation between cytokine concentrations and the positive and negative scale (PANSS). Also no significant difference in the admission, relapses, and duration of illness before and after treatment was observed. Conclusions: Increase of TNF- α and decrease of IL-10 may have an important role inpsychopathology of schizophrenia.